To have their show featured at the top of the Apple Podcasts feed, one of the highest rankings in the audio industry, podcasters fill out a form, submit it to Apple, and hope for the best.
Another quick way is to simply give the company a cut of the profits.
Last week, five of the first seven podcasts promoted in the Browse carousel in the Apple Podcasts app were part of an Apple Podcasts subscription. Apple Podcasts Subscription is a program the tech company has rolled out for his 2021 shows to monetize bonus episodes, segments, and other content.
This was no accident. An independent podcast executive told Semaphore that after asking the company in recent months how it could promote itself on the merry-go-round, Apple executives said the show would join the platform's new subscription program. He suggested that. Another podcast executive told Semafor that while Apple Podcasts subscriptions weren't a big source of revenue for them, the benefit of having their podcast feed featured made it worth it.
The company's podcast team selects a variety of shows for inclusion in the top slots, some of which do not participate in revenue sharing. But since launching Apple Podcasts subscriptions in 2021, the company has been trying to attract more podcast creators and shows to the subscription service. And an Apple official told his Semafor that the company is expanding his Apple Podcasts app to shows that have opted in to Apple's subscription products, including more features such as reserving a slot in the top carousel. Designed to provide functionality.
